//------------------------------//
// Finding Balance 
// Story: When the Monster Comes Out 
// by reflective vagrant 
//------------------------------//

Twilight sat at a table in the library wing of her new palace.  With her usual concentrated face, her eyes repeatedly combed the letter that Fluttershy had brought to her.  After reading it over a final time, she set it down and gave an unhappy sigh.
"I'm sorry I did this to you, Fluttershy."  Twilight looked over at her friend standing next to her.  "I know it's not a huge problem, but I was still the one that caused it with my recklessness and now you're the one that has to live with it."
"So there's nothing you can do?"  Fluttershy asked meekly as Twilight got out of her seat.  "You can't get the rest of it out?"
"Sadly no."  Twilight embraced her depressed friend.  "It can't be filtered down any better than I already did back then and removing it forcibly would cause a lot more harm than good."
The hug broke and Fluttershy leaned backwards to sit on the floor.  "What am I going to do?"
"You know I'm here if you need me." Twilight took an earnest step towards her in comfort.  "I'll help in whatever way I can.  But I think you should pay our counselor friend a visit.  I think he can help you more than I can right now."
Fluttershy's disappointed face gave way to a small but sincere smile.
"OK Twilight.  That sounds good."  She got up and took a few steps to the door. "But um..."  She turned her head back to her friend.  "I know you said it wouldn't do any good, but could you give that filtering spell one more go?  It might get a little more out."
"Fluttershy, I know it wo..."  Twilight began to lecture her but paused.  With a furled brow and a smile, she lit up her horn. "Sure.  Now I'm going to need your undivided attention."





"Ah, Ms Fluttershy.  This is bit of a surprise but please do come in."  Fluttershy's counselor called out to her as he finished putting one of his reference books away on the shelf.
"I'm sorry if I'm intruding doctor." Fluttershy called out as she entered the door.  "I hope you weren't busy."
Fluttershy came into the counselor's office and sat down on the therapy couch.  Meanwhile, The counselor's small form hopped off the stool he had been using and went over to his chair.
"You aren't intruding at all Ms Fluttershy," the counselor reassured her as he got climbed into his chair.  He then got his clipboard ready and reflexively clicked his pen a few times.  "And I wasn't in the middle of anything that can't be put off for a few minutes.  Now tell me, what has been troubling you?"
"Well, doctor, It's about my recent assertiveness."
"Ah yes.  I recall hearing from you're friends that you have been finding a healthy balance in this.  I must say that I am quite impressed by your progress."
"That's just it doctor," Fluttershy nearly shouted in frustration. "I haven't actually made any progress.  It's all been a lie!"
The counselor had set his notepad down on his lap, giving Fluttershy his utmost focus. "Wh-what do you mean by 'it's all been a lie?'" he asked in mild shock.
Fluttershy's face squeezed tight, her ears dropped down as she pulled her posture backwards.
The counselor leaned slightly forward and spoke softly again. "I don't mean to sound skeptical, but I have seen some of this assertiveness with my own eyes.  Why do you say that you haven't made any progress?"
Fluttershy said nothing for a moment.  She only looked down at the floor and slumped a little.
"I apologize," the counselor responded, "I strive to have my patients trust me to listen to their concerns without judgement, but to do so I must also respect their privacy.  You don't have to tell me if you aren't comfortable with it."
Fluttershy shook her head and inhaled.  "No, doctor.  I need to do this."  She looked back at her wing.  "It's just that..."
The counselor leaned back again as he read her expression.  "It's just that it still isn't easy for you, even though you feel that it is vital that you talk about it?  Feel free to take your time."
Fluttershy looked back down at the floor but with a little more strength to her posture.  "Well, I had a bit of a mishap a while back and we had thought it had been fixed, but then I had noticed..." A few seconds of silence passed as Fluttershy's face scrunched down in thought. "...Certain things about being assertive had started coming too easily for me.  I eventually realized that it was connected and asked for some testing to be done."
Her wing opened up enough to show a piece of paper hidden underneath.  Fluttershy took it and passed it to the doctor.  "This is the letter I got back from the ponies I asked about it."
The counselor unfolded the paper and read it out loud in a soft and respectful volume.  "Dear Ms Fluttershy, we at the Institute of Medical Studies of Magical Influence are pleased to inform you that the affliction of the subject you described and sent samples of is in fact not malevolent in nature.
"We are impressed at your recognition of this affliction at such trace amounts.  Though it shares enough of the same properties as Lycanthropy to understand your mistaking of it for this, it does not share the parasitic nature required to be classified as..."
The counselor took a pause and shifted a little in his seat.
"-to be classified as a Lycanthropy 'curse'.  The sample will be given advanced testing to see if it has proper relations to the Lycanthropy Family.
"For the subject's personal knowledge, the sample showed no particular potential for growing stronger or risk of infecting others whatsoever.  It is benign in these respects and poses no grand scale threat.  Furthermore, there is no medical reason to believe that merits advanced techniques to be used for its removal entirely as its influence is minor at the levels of the sample given.  If the subject is exposed to more of this affliction's source, we recommend using simple filtration spells to keep it in check."
When the counselor was finished reading, he sat there and pawed at his chin a little in thought.  "Well this certainly is something.  Am I to presume the 'subject' in this letter is yourself?"
Fluttershy nodded meekly.  "It's kind of hard to explain, but I'll try."
"Perhaps I can save you some time Ms Fluttershy.  Is this about the transformation in the adventure you and your friends had with vampire fruit bats?"
"Y-Yes!" Fluttershy stated in shock, "How did you know about that?"
"One of your friends came to talk about it a while back," he said as he suddenly scribbled a quick note.  "Though she had respectively omitted which one of her friends had been transformed.  I just connected the dots when I read your letter."
After a few more clicks of his pen and a flipping of a page in his notebook, he looked back at her with an almost synthetic smile.  "I can assure you that it's nothing to be ashamed of, especially in my office.  Please continue at your own pace."
"Well, I'm afraid that the little piece left in me is still influencing me.  Like it's not really me learning to be assertive, but rather it pushing me."
"The letter did seem to indicate there would be some influence.  But why do you feel like it's pushing you?"
Fluttershy gave a tiny huff.  "Because even though I've been getting more done, I've been scaring ponies."
"Really?  Could you give an example?"
"Well... not really.  I guess I just felt like I've been pushier lately.  I haven't really had to try much since the accident.  I argued with Pinkie Pie when we should have been focusing on making Twilight's castle a home for her.  But then again my birds weren't in the wrong, they were just scared.   Then there was the time I made Rainbow Dash cry to get past the fact Tank had to hibernate for winter."
"So you feel like you were mean spirited then?" the counselor inquired, "Like you should have done something more gentle?"
"Well no.  I knew that she had to let it out to get better and that was the only way to do it.  It's just so...  Well, just this morning I scowled at Angel bunny for turning away the salad I tried to make for him.  I was upset that he didn't appreciate the effort, but I didn't mean to make him scared.  He wouldn't even look at me for the rest of breakfast."
After a moment of silence the counselor stopped his scribbling and spoke up.  "Ms Fluttershy, I think I see where you're coming from.  You're afraid that the changes this 'affliction' has made to your psyche has made you a less caring pony than you had been before.  But you need to realize that sometimes ponies will feel scorned when you say what needs to be said.  It isn't necessarily because of this new influence."
The counselor got out of his seat and gestured Fluttershy to do the same.  "This new part of you may not be the nicest part of you, but I don't think it's going to completely change who you are.  It may make being assertive easier now, but it hasn't overtaken your kind side.  I can assure you that I have seen a plethora of signs since the time of the incident that you are still a very deeply caring pony."
"How can you be sure, doctor?"  Fluttershy asked as she and the counselor headed towards his door.  "I don't want to slip up and let that monster out."
"Even just in our brief visit today, I have seen enough to believe adamantly that you still have a firm grip on this.  If you had lost your desire to be caring, then you wouldn't care enough to seek a remedy for the problem.  Facing one's flawed side can be unpleasant, but I see a pony that is more than equipped enough to guide this 'monster' in the right direction if she just chooses to be persistent on it."
The doctor shook a little as he opened the door for her.  "Shall we make an appointment to talk more on this first thing tomorrow?  I do hate to say it, but it is closing time and I need to get home on time tonight."
"Actually, no thank you, doctor.  You helped me get my thoughts together.  I think I just need to get used to this.  Maybe a specialist would help.  Do you know anypony that would know more about magic like this?"
"I-I'll have to think about it Ms Fluttershy.  Maybe next time I'll have some... somepony in mind."
"Thank you again doctor,"  Fluttershy called through the hastily closed door.  "Oh. OK then."  Fluttershy said to herself as she turned to the front door.  "I suppose I should be getting home to bed too.  Were taking a pet day tomorrow and Angel gets upset if I wake up late on a pet day."





Back in the office, the counselor slumped down on the ground and hugged himself with his shaking forelimbs.  His eyes finally let go of the water they held back as he shook there, leaning against his office door for a moment.  "Yes Fluttershy," he whispered to himself after he heard the front door close gently.  "I know someone that has a lot of experience with this kind of magic.  You just caught him off guard today."